Sonys Failure to properly use BluRay for gaming

[CyberAkuma]

One of the main sellingpoints for Sony and the BluRay Drive that comes with it is the alleged fact that todays modern games require larger and larger ammounts of data, data that supposedly cannot longer fit on a Dual-Layered DVD disc.

If you've missed - a Dual-Layered DVD disc can fit around 9 GB of data while a BluRay disc can fit 25GB on Single Layer and twice the size on Dual-Layered BluRay disc.

While this; in theory certainly gives the PlayStation 3 the advantage of being able to put massive ammounts of data exceeding that of the PC and Xbox360 the truth is that Sonys games rarely exceed the size of a Double-Sided DVD nullifying that advantage and main selling point from Sony.


As we all know the Playstaion 3 was recently cracked and serveral pirated copys of PS3 games have been spread around on the Internet. While I have no personal interest in downloading these, my main interest is the data SIZE of these disc-images. And as it turns out - most PS3 games are well under the size of a BluRay disc, and in most cases; under the size of a DL DVD disc.. Now in defense the PS3 has a lot of multi-platform games and the size of these games are naturally going to be the same on the Xbox 360. Games such as Grand Theft Auto IV, Bad Company 2, etc. But come on? How hard is it for them to fill the damned disc with extra content exclusive to the PlayStation 3? In all multiplaform games the size of the data has been identical to the Xbox360/PC version. Sonys alleged advantage over all the other consoles becomes rather pointless if the multi-platform games on it differ in no way, shape or form from the other conoles.

Now how about console exclusives you might say? Well, here is a small list of the current pirated ISOs I found online

Little Big Planet - 7.65 GB
Demons Souls - 5.57 GB
GT5 Prologue - 5.89 GB
Haze - 7.33 GB
Ratchet and Clank Quest for Booty - 3.22 GB
Ridge Racer 7 - 4.7 GB
Infamous - 6.53 GB
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 - 3.46 GB
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom - 5.13 GB

KillZone 2 - 12.03 GB
MotorStorm - 12.99 GB
Valkyria Chronicles - 12.08 GB

Now given these numbers - remember there are a few couple of exceptions, being God of War III and Uncharted being just about the only games taking up a massive 40GB of data on the disc.

What really suprises me here is just how many sinners are among the list. Games like KillZone 2 barely slip away from the Dual-Layered DVD and notorious PS3 games such as Ridge Racer 7 and Haze would easily fit on to the old format of discs.
I keep asking myself why the developers really haven't been using the full space. Given that demanding the 50GB of data space to be fileld might be a tad unrealistic - asking the discs to contain documentries, extra content is really not asking for much.

Why do you think developers at SONY do not use the BluRay to its full extend for the majority of the time? Does it bother you that the sales pitch the BluRay offers is virtually bogus?
Do you think games will be larger in data size in the future giving the PS3 the aleged advantage for real?

Cheers.

 

[Hateren47]

I agree, and I have never thought of this before, but putting behind-the-scenes video on PS3 games would be a neat feature. I don't agree that the sales pitch is entirely bogus as it does, you know, play BD movies and that's pretty neat (well so does my PC and the drive costs lest than 1/8 of a PS3).

In the future games are going to take advantage of the size of medium but it will take another console generation for them to get anyway near 25GB and certainly 50GB. I think games will probably get a little more compact first so everyone can download them before they blow up to that size though. While we wait for 1/1Gbit home connections.

I don't think Blu-ray has a lot of life left in it though. Maybe as home storage but not in media.

 

[Corpse XxX]

I would rather have them making games larger so they last longer than fill it up with extra content crap that most people dont watch anyways...

And for the Bluray size capabilities: would you rather go without a gun and need it, than having a gun and dont need it?

And of course games will get larger in the future, better graphics, 3D, and all that stuff..
This free space will definitly be in use in the future..

 

[Zer_]

What's the point of stuffing the BluRay with oversized textures if the console can't even use them? The PS3 only has 256mb of VRAM, therefore, the BluRay is not the problem, it's the consoles terrible VRAM and mediocre GPU.

The only reason MGS4's disk was filled was because they didn't compress the audio, and they stuffed the game full of cinematics.

It's unlikely we'll be seeing more detailed textures added into the PS3 in the future... People are already stating they have problems with the memory limits on the console (hell even the 360 too).

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I think it just depends on the type of game at times. For whatever reason, Shank is 2 gigs. I'm almost positive the devs for MLB The Show have said on OperationSports that they fill up pretty much the whole Blu-ray disc.

 

[The_Healer]

I don't think its Sony's fault.

The developers are in charge of producing the content that goes on the disks, Sony has nothing to do with how large the majority of the games are. Also, the Uncharted games are developed by Naughty Dog, which is a division of Sony. They utilise every bit of the disk space.

 

[wooty]

Give it time, in a few years games will be bigger and require a lot more space. Sony did say they wanted a futureproof system

 

[vallorn]

What's the point of stuffing the BluRay with oversized textures if the console can't even use them? The PS3 only has 256mb of VRAM, therefore, the BluRay is not the problem, it's the consoles terrible VRAM and mediocre GPU.

The only reason MGS4's disk was filled was because they didn't compress the audio, and they stuffed the game full of cinematics.

It's unlikely we'll be seeing more detailed textures added into the PS3 in the future... People are already stating they have problems with the memory limits on the console (hell even the 360 too).

were more likly to see more games with detailed textures, rubble and advanced ai on the PS3 than the 360.

 

[vallorn]

I think it just depends on the type of game at times. For whatever reason, Shank is 2 gigs. I'm almost positive the devs for MLB The Show have said on OperationSports that they fill up pretty much the whole Blu-ray disc.

dont forget Rage and FF13. they filled a lot of space.

 

[rookie.of.the.year]

dont forget Rage and FF13. they filled a lot of space.

Wasn't FF13 4 discs on the X-box?

They aren't failing at all, games would be more expensive and have worse stories if the developers were all "oh noes we need to fill up disk space". In the future the game sizes will become larger, and microsoft will either have to have 3 discs to a normal game, or bring out a new console.

BD movies??

 

[mad825]

HDD=SSD(mass storage)>Discs

it doesn't really matter if Sony fails to make use of the technology as discs nowadays are nothing but a cheap and easy method of transporting data physically

the idea that Sony used blue-ray to make it "futureproof" is nothing but a poor speculation and understanding of technology.
before the days of the Xbox (first gen) all consoles (and mostly PCs) relied on the storage that came with the data/game but now that HDDs are cheap as chips and the introduction of the use of mass storage in the 360 for gaming, it is now practically mainstream to only use the HDD or SSD as it more efficient and time saving.

the need of a Blue-ray driver has been for watching films or (not so commonly used for) backing-up data, this is also why PC gaming will remain resistant, against Blue-ray

Oh! Wait! I forgot to say something to the OP:

While this; in theory certainly gives the PlayStation 3 the advantage of being able to put massive amounts of data exceeding that of the PC

Discs are becoming useless for the PC, day by day.
PC gaming does not need/use discs to run games, once it's installed to the HDD/SDD the disc only becomes useful for the DRM
the internet, other mass storage devices and multiple discs do a perfect job, all blue ray does is put all the data on less package(at more cost)....nothing more.

 

[migo]

That's not the case. Blu-Ray allows devs to use uncompressed textures which speeds up performance as they don't have to be decompressed. .kkrieger is a full (if basic) FPS at under 100kB, but it takes ages to load because of the decompression. With Blu-Ray devs can do the exact opposite, but they've been in the habit of compressing and decompressing for so long that they're not taking advantage of it.

 

[Shameless]

Sony just used the Blu Ray tech too soon that is all I think they might need it in the next generation.

 

[omega 616]

snip

I am not an expert on disks or anything but doesn't MGS4 also fill the thing? It should, theres about 10 films in it called cut scenes.

Surely, it isn't sony that isn't using the space on the disks, it's the game devs or whoever. Maybe it takes that long to produce a game that fills it that the "risk VS reward" is too lop sided on the risk side to do.

If you spend a £5 million making a masterpiece that fills the disk and the game flops you just made a loss or do you fire out five £1 million games like MW2? What are the odds of 5 games failing to make a profit, compared to 1 making a profit?

Thats my wild stab in the dark anyway.

 

[Geekosaurus]

It's not really Sony fault, I agree. You can still use it for films though, so it's not a complete waste. I would use the argument that the PS3 is 'prepared for the future', but they'll probably have a new console out by then.

 

[MMETEORAGA1994]

You included multiple DLC games on here (Quest for Booty, GT5 Prologue) and while not all developers use Blu-Ray, some devs obviously see the advantages of it, and tap a game to its full potential (Final Fantasy XIII took up one Blu-Ray for PS3 and 3 DVDs for XBOX 360, etc.) this has nothing to do with the creators of the console, but rather the third party developers

 

[Meggiepants]

I don't think its Sony's fault.

The developers are in charge of producing the content that goes on the disks, Sony has nothing to do with how large the majority of the games are. Also, the Uncharted games are developed by Naughty Dog, which is a division of Sony. They utilise every bit of the disk space.

I have to agree with this poster. The problem isn't with Sony, the problem is with the developers.

Likely, in time developers will use more of the space. Exclusive PS3 games have only been getting prettier as time goes.